Gypsies Scare Me

Thursday 22The Weekend comes on Thursday this week. The SanFran band signed to Slumberland for full-length debut Sports. The trio’s fuzz-pop sound fits well with the Slumberland roster (esp. A Place to Bury Strangers), but it’s more listener-friendly. Like, I admire Psychocandy, but I enjoy Loveless, two landmarks of the genre that Sports fits snuggly between. For fans of the brand, this is our gig to get to. Brooklyn no-wave duo Talk Normal opens the show at Casbah.... The One Man Band Broke Up is the new trip-hop collection from New Haven’s raptastic Ceschi, who will rock the mic tonight at Bar Pink. His odd-pop tourmate is Rickolus from Jax, making this double bill a twofer for you loose-limbed, sag-ass, slam-poetry types.... Sonic explorers the Illuminauts land at Whistle Stop with the Quiet Punx DJs.... From Boston via Colombia, il Abinaco is a female-fronted band that plays shimmering indie pop, much like local Maren Parusel and her band, who will set it up at the Tin Can.... Over in Abnormal Heights (after sunset, yo), Soda Bar stages soulful singer Sean Hayes, who’s out to tout last year’s folk-pop affair Run Wolves Run...while thrash-punk act Coda Reactor turns up at at Eleven.

Friday 23Herbie Hancock is one of the greats — indisputable — but starting at 90 bucks, the ticket prices at the Balboa downtown will keep him out of reach of most crawlers. Me too.

Herbie Hancock takes the stage at Balboa Theatre Friday night.

The event affords me the opportunity, howevah, to let you know that this crossover jazzman runs way deeper than “Rockit.” Dude has 14(!) Grammys. Get yer mitts on 1965’s beat trip Maiden Voyage (Blue Note) to find out how/where much of today’s soul-bounce started. And for the funky fun of it, 1973’s Head Hunters (Columbia) is like a trip around a record store on one disc — file under jazz, rock, funk, soul, disco, and hip-hop.... Okay, back to the future. English electronic band Ladytron brings its new Nettwerk work Gravity the Seducer to House of Blues. Check out lead single “White Elephant” for a taste of their latest. Geographer and Sonoio up first... NYC glam-punk band D Generation joins likeminded Los Angelinos Prima Donna at Casbah. Prima Donna’s on the Puke and Vomit label...as are hardcore throwbacks RF7, who will join the Voids across town at Shakedown.... SanFran jam band the Mother Hips will be at Belly Up with Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers for your recommended daily allowance of granola rock.... Tucson’s punk en españolLenguas Largas lick Tower Bar. Take a taste of “No Me Gusta la Pepsi”: myspace.com/lenguaslargas. Stalins of Sound will open up these funyuns.

Saturday 24Adams Avenue Street Fair kicks off on Saturday. Much too much for my limited list, so click this for the grist: adamsaveonline.com. 33rd Street looks like the place to hang....

Ladytron hits House of Blues Friday night.

Ume’s hometown rag the Austin Chronicle likens their brand-spanking new Phantoms to 4AD hey-dayers Pixies, Breeders, and Throwing Muses, saying, “[it] balances precariously between psychedelic swoon and refined power-pop.” Maybe. I just can’t stop looking at Brooklyn Vegan’s pix of Lauren Larson rocking it in New York last week (brooklynvegan.com). She is Tapatio in my eyes. (Ooh, good lyric. Don’t take it.) I’ll be the dude pressed against the Bar Pink stage with my lengua larga hanging out.... Else: TV on the Radio’s at the Open Air with Arctic Monkeys...Southern Culture on the Skids hits Casbah with Creepy Creeps...the Two Door Cinema Club meets at House of Blues...while junk-pop big band Red Pony Clock clops into the Tin Can with a new record. Foreign Film, Doves & Desperadoes, and D/Wolves are also on that Bankers Hill bill.... Up at UCSD, the Loft unlocks for the new semester and stages comedy-folk duo Garfunkel and Oates. From the Wik, in January it was announced that “Garfunkel and Oates have signed a deal with HBO to make a pilot for their own show. [They] described it as ‘Glee with dick jokes.’” Nice.

Sunday 25Bar Pink hosts one of them Swami Record Swaps Sunday afternoon. Never been to one, but I’m an avid listener of the radio spot and have learned a lot from the Swami. The Druids of Stonehenge? Get me some of that. You probably noticed John on this week’s cover. He asked for it.... Later on, Soda Bar pops the top on Oklahoma’s Colour Revolt. One of our Of Noters Of Noted this one, if you want to flip or click to that for more on Wayne Coyne’s favorite new band. Colourmusic and Phasers on Stun fire first.... Houstown hip-hopper Devin the Dude will be at 4th&B behind Gotta Be Me, his seventh studio set. No less than the New York Times has said of Dev: “A brilliant oddball with a spaced-out flow”.... How many Kentucky kids does it take to make “hook-filled, hormone-fueled garage-rock that’s as sweet, fizzy, and combustible as a can of shook soda?” Six, and they’re called Sleeper Agent. They’ll play the Ché Café Sunday...while further up thataway, Belly Up books Israeli Gypsy punx Balkan Beat Box, touring in support of this year’s Christgau-approved Blue Eyed Black Boy (Bob gave it an A-). Gypsies scare me.

Their latest, Air Museum, “blurs the lines between acoustic and electronic music without sacrificing melody or delicacy.” They are from — guess where — that’s right, Brooklyn in New York. With White Shrine and Smile Davis on the bill, this is going to be one heady night at the Can.... Meanwhilst, Indy indie trio Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band spreads the good word of Charlie Patton with songs offa their new record, Peyton on Patton, at Soda Bar.

Tuesday 27From Denton, Texas, chillwavers Neon Indian deliver Era Extraña to the Belly Up. According to their press, the Indians “deliver equal parts synthetic nostalgia, dreampop lullabies, and grinding guitar noise to create something eerier than the sum of its parts”.... Twatever, I’ll be playing Guitar Hero at the Bush, Chevelle, and Filter show at 4th&B.